Necessary
by xxTVxx
Summary: OC. Kathryn lives in Quill before Artime is revealed and her brother is about to be purged. One-shot. (I wrote this for a class; I'm not expecting a lot out of it.)


Ever since I can remember, all I could remember was work, obedience, and the Purge. Every year those who are 13 years of age are sent to the Purge where they are deemed Wanted, Necessary, or Unwanted. Those who are strong or smart are declared Wanted. Those who are Wanted are sent to the Wanted University to further their education and become governors or have other powerful positions. Those who have no infractions are deemed Necessary and become farmers or low class workers. Those who are Unwanted due to their crimes are sent to their death.

There is really only one law that the children must follow, and that is to not do anything creative. There is neither drawing nor painting. There is neither singing nor dancing. There is neither acting nor story telling. To do any of this is without a doubt the worst thing you can do. To do any of this without a doubt is to die an excruciating death in the lake of burning oil.

This year it is my brother I will see purged from Quill. He has multiple infractions against him. Anymore, one infraction is enough, so why not sing while you still can. His voice is beautiful when he makes it rise and fall with the words. I have never heard anyone else sing, so I don't know if it's good, and I can't try it. If I am purged as well my parents won't be allowed any more children. Once one of us dies, we are supposed to forget they existed.

I stare at my brother as High Priest Justine stood and started to announce the names of the Wanteds. I knew my brother wasn't Wanted. I knew he wasn't Necessary even as the names were being called, but I still hoped his name was on that list. It wasn't. When I heard his name called out from the list of Unwanteds my heart sunk. Hearing his name from that list finally made it real.

I couldn't help it, but I refused to accept it. I wanted it to be a dream, even if those dreams are banned. I wanted to cry and scream. I wanted to be angry and throw things. I wanted to choke the High Priest and tell the world I want my brother. I wanted all these things, but they are banned. I hold on until the shackles are placed, and then I shut down.

I wake up a little while later and I know he's not dead. This can't be over. I can still hear his voice in my head. I can still see the stick dragging through the dirt making birds, trees, houses, and everything he's ever seen. I feel as if he's still alive somehow. I can feel it in my bones. I know that something isn't right. Something is up.

I look at the gate to the road to the Death Farm on my way to school. The guards are in place as always, and I don't know how, but I'm going to save my brother. I'm going to sneak past the guards. I'm going to get in the Death Farm. I'm going to find my brother. Then what, is this worth anything? Do I do it? What if this feeling is giving me false hope? What if he's dead?

It is a few weeks later when I see the guards moving to let a tank through that I know it's my chance. I run to hide on the opposite side of the tank from the guards, and I manage to stay out of their sight. As it passes through the gates I panic at the small gap. I squeeze myself into the small area between the tank and gate. I hold my breath. I close my eyes. I count to five. I successfully sneak through. As the tank progresses to their destination I manage to get to the Death Farm.

It's shocking, but I never thought about the Death Farmer and executioners until now. I know their reputation. They kill children for a living. My death would be a minor blip on their radar. I don't know how I'm getting into the place, but I know I will. I walk around the farm with the high wall and the barbed wire ceiling. I come across a tube, that I'm not sure if it is on or in the wall. I go up and touch it.

"Who are you?!" I heard a disembodied voice scream out of nowhere.

"I'm Kathryn Menzel." I was scared to death that they would kill me.

"Are you the Shane kid's sister?" He said my brother's name. He said are. Does that mean he's still alive?"

"Yes or at least I was." The voice seemed to be uncertain, and it seemed to be contemplating something heavily.

"Step inside the tube, and press office." The voice suddenly commanded me. When I stepped inside I saw many buttons. My eyes were caught by three in particular. One of them buttons said forest, another said lounge, and the last said office. I was tempted to choose lounge, but chose against it. I pushed the office button and it didn't seem like I was moving, but like just the picture on the outside of the glass was.

"Thank you for trusting me." It was a new voice. It was an oldish man in a chair behind a desk. "I am Mr. Today. I believe you are here for your brother." When I didn't respond, he continued. "Yes, he is very much alive, excelling even. Would you like to see him?"

"Yes I would very much like that."

"Clive, could you send down Shane?"

"I'll give him the message."

"Who's Clive?"

"We'll get to that some other time." The old man said this with a smile on his long bearded face. I heard a swooshing sound like the sound of the doors opening in the Jedi movie I once saw at a house that had some children that were Unwanteds. "Come in, Shane." As I saw Shane walk in I was in shock. It can't be real. I start crying and shaking.

"Come here Katy," He embraced me and held me there. "It'll be alright I'm here now. I'm alive. I'm okay. You're okay." I pulled back and looked at him.

"Does that mean Dom is here too?" Dominic was my best friend since birth. He was the one that always picked me up when Shane couldn't. I loved him. It hurt to think about.

"I was wondering how long it'd take for you to ask that." I heard another swoosh and intake of breath.

"Kat," Dom's voice haunted me. "Is that you?" He's here. I ran to his arms and cried. Suddenly, booms erupted and the screens started shaking. There were tanks at the gates of the place I am now. The death farm is no longer an appropriate name.

"Octavia, Claire, Sigfried, get the troops ready for battle!" Then commotion started about. There were many kinds of humanesque creatures, animals, statues, and honestly I have no idea what the others were, hustling around and grabbing art supplies. I was confused.

"Kat, remember these words." Shane was looking at me intensely. "Die a thousand deaths." That was the Quillitary motto. I already knew it, what was he trying to tell me? He then handed me some paperclips that were bent out of shape. "Throw these if you need to, and only say that if it is life or death. You can also say propel." Could these little pieces of metal really be that lethal? I looked back and forth between him and the clips and nodded. With that, we marched off into battle.

I managed to avoid most of the fighting until a lone Quillitary official got me by myself. I reached in my pocket and grabbed my clips. I threw them. "Propel!" The man was launched ten feet away and attached to a tree. I was impressed. I was tempted to grab some more clips and try the other spell, but I knew that killing an unarmed man is wrong. I ran around avoiding the fighting, only fighting a few more people, always propelling and never killing.

When the fight was over we were victorious. I had no idea what we were fighting for, but I was sick of the oppression of the people of Quill. I looked about me and saw the frozen figures of the Quillitary and people celebrating. Two things I didn't see were Shane and Dom. I ran around shouting their names and pacing. I looked high and low until I got the courage to walk up to the winged cheetah that was taller than the trees. "Have you seen my brother?"

"What's his name?" he purred down to me. When he saw my face he recognized something in it that reminded him of Shane. "Get on my back." When I was on he flew towards the castle that held the office I was in previously as well as all the other rooms here.

"Florrrence, tell Marrrcus that the Menzel girrrl is out herrre." He purred to the huge statue lady at the outside of the castle.

"Go on through the doors." When we did we walked into the hospital wing. As we walked down the aisle I saw Shane and Dominic next to each other. Shane had minimal issues, but doctors were working hard on Dominic. There seemed to be a lot of blood and lacerations on his body. I gasped in horror and ran as close as I could get to him. The doctor saw me in a panic.

"Calm down, he'll be fine." I let out part of my breath in relief, but I still didn't fully believe him. Shane seemed to be fine. The world around me was hazy. I was going in and out of the scene in front of me. I could no longer see the other beds and doctors. Shane was next to go. Lastly, it was Dominic who went. "I love you, Dom."

I then woke up to the ceiling of my bedroom, and the environment of Quill. It was time for school. I walked out of my room, and I saw my parents at a table with an old man with a long white beard and a paperclip that was bent out of shape on his hat. He looked at me and winked. Was it a dream? "Thank you for coming by Marcus. We understand."

My parents looked at me and stared for a long while. "Goodbye, Kathryn." I looked at all of them. If it wasn't a dream I had nothing to fear. If it was just that, a dream, I am going to die. Marcus then took me to the 'Death Farm,' where I am to die a fiery and painful death. The gates open and showed the true 'Death Farm.' I only had one offense, yet here I am. My crime, I dreamed.


End file.
